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Show 1 893.] DR. PORSYTH MAJOR ON THE TOOTH OP AN ANT-BEAR. 239 A. livingstonianus carried its northern range onwards to the Zambesi. Mr. Neumann stated that the species had a very strong musky odour, wmich presumably came from the suborbital glands, and also that there were in this species very well marked interdigital pits. Dr. C. J. Forsyth Major exhibited a tooth of an Ant-bear (Orycteropus) from the Upper Miocene of Maragha (Persia), and made the following remarks :- " The tooth, of which I present a sketch (see woodcut), forms part of a small collection of Mammalian remains from Maragha (Persia), sent to the British Museum, together with remains of several other interesting Mammals from the same deposit, by M. R. Damon1. "As to its belonging to Orycteropus-of which it is apparently an antepenultimate right lower molar-there cannot be the least doubt, there being no other M a m m a l that presents this general form, as well as the minute structure, which was compared by Cuvier with the section of a cane, and is produced by the polygonal prisms of dentine, each of which has a tubular pulp-cavity in its centre. Lower molar of Orycteropus gaudryi. a. Top view; b. Side view; c. Part of lower surface, much magnified. " With regard to the specific determination, up to the present date only one fossil form of this genus is known, namely Orycteropus gaudryi, Major, from the Upper Miocene of the isle of Samos. The size of the Maragha tooth is that of the Samosform, viz. about one fifth smaller than that of the living species. As the present known fauna of Maragha, which is not numerous, has not less than 13 species in common with Samos, I feel myself fairly entitled to apply the same specific name to the fossil from Maragha. " Apart from the size, there are but small differences between the fossil and the recent species of Orycteropus. The upper profile of the skull is more horizontal in the fossil form. The lachrymal is more elongate and absolutely longer in the smaller Miocene form, the relative proportion in the length of the two being as 23 :21*5 millim.; in the recent species this bone is almost square. 1 See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. for May 1886, pp. 173-176. 17* |
